


Even Angels Need a Break Sometimes

by notcool



Series: Grim! Webtoon Short Stories [1]
Category: Grim! (Webtoon)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, I don't care anymore, M/M, Protective Kay Sullivan, Sick Leo, Sickfic, Sleep Deprivation, Webtoon, Wolfie is a Good Boy, Worried Lucius, am i in too deep?, grim! webtoon, webtoons, whatever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-19 11:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14872544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notcool/pseuds/notcool
Summary: Two weeks after Lucius is trapped on earth as a human, Leo gets sick. His recently picked-up routine of three hours of sleep per-night doesn't help, and Lucius goes to the Sullivans for help





	1. Sleep (Or, Lack Thereof)

_ Written after chapter 13: Talk With the Father (2) was posted. _

\-------

It had been two weeks since Lucius El Mot had been sent to reap the soul of one Elena Sullivan - two weeks since Leonardo had snagged the apartment next to Elena’s, rescued Lucius from his own idiot self and introduced Lucca the demonic cat to the human realm for the first time in a good many centuries.

Two weeks since Leo had begun his quest for the truth - two weeks since Leo had gotten more than three hours of sleep a day.

Finding himself nodding off again, Leo stumbled to the kitchen sink and splashed icy water on his face. It did little, his body too tired to care anymore.

Lucius was off at school, hopefully not causing a whole new world of problems with his complete lack of understanding for casual human life. Elena  _ should _ be keeping an eye on him…

Leo leaned against the counter, closing his eyes and taking in the slight throbbing behind them. He needed sleep, but he also needed answers.

As it had for the past fourteen days, the latter won that argument, and Leo pried his lashes apart and pushed away from the counter. He may or may not have used the wall as a crutch on his way back to the table.

Said table was littered in papers, a few printed but most covered in Leo’s neat, pretty handwriting. Or, at least most of the writing was neat. Over the past few hours Leo’s hand had grown numb, and his letters had grown sloppier and didn’t always sit on the line they were supposed to. Some words even tilted down across two lines, the letters trembling a little.

Dropping back into his chair, Leo rubbed his eyes and tried to remember exactly what he had been doing before he got up. The paper he had been writing on not five minutes ago seemed distant, the words smeared together.

Leo rubbed his eyes again, trying to clear his vision. The page only blurred further, and the throbbing behind his eyes increased.

The first week hadn’t been so bad; it wasn’t the first time Leo had gone awhile on little sleep, and this was certainly important enough to warrant such extremes.

Four days ago, though, Leo had started to feel… well, not so great. His stomach ached weakly, sending little spikes of discomfort up through his chest every hour or so. His neck was sore from leaning over these papers for days on end, he was dizzy and his eyelids were heavy and as the hours passed he was slowly losing his ability to think straight.

Lucius hadn’t noticed for awhile. It was only that morning, as Leo was wearily prodding at the former reaper to go before he’d be late for school, that Lucius had scowled and eyed him up and down, seeming to really look at his friend for the first time in over a week.

“You look like shit, Leo.” He commented.

“Stop stalling, Lucy.” Leo said, sipping lightly at his coffee. “If you don’t get out there Elie is going to leave without you.”

“I mean it though.” Lucius said. “What’s wrong with you? You’re all…” he frowned, apparently searching for a word. “...Droopy.”

“Just go to school, Lucy.” Leo sighed. He sighed again when Lucius didn’t move from his spot in the middle of the kitchen. “I’m fine. Just tired - I’ll be alright once this kicks in.” He gestured loosely with his mug before taking another sip of the warm liquid, intently focusing on the five-too-many-sugars rather than his sore-ish throat as he swallowed.

Still Lucius hadn’t moved.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Lucy, just go already.”

Finally, though with a last frown cast in Leo’s direction, Lucius turned and left the kitchen.

“Okay, okay,” he muttered. “I’m going.”

Some childish part of Leo wished he hadn’t gone. Even in the fifteen minutes he had been sitting in this chair the ache in his stomach had grown, twisting slowly as the throbbing behind his eyes became harder.

His vision still wouldn’t clear enough to read the paper before him. Leo wrapped an arm around his abdomen, lightly hugging his stomach as it coiled in on itself.

He needed sleep. He  _ really _ needed sleep.


	2. In Which Kay is a Sweetheart

Even as the last class of the day ended, Lucius still worried if Leo was alright. He hadn’t been kidding - the angel really had looked like shit.

His face was pale, its usual rosy flush drained away and replaced with dark smudges under and around his eyes. His lips were dry despite that he wet them with sips of coffee every few moments, and his fuschia hair was dishevelled and his blue eyes dull.

But the angel had insisted he was ‘just tired’ and that his coffee would fix everything.

Lucius still didn’t quite get the point of coffee, and though Elena had told him it sort of jogged people awake, he doubted it was  _ that _ much of a miracle worker. Leo didn’t just look tired, he looked dead.

Well, not dead in the literal sense… but it wasn’t too far off.

Arms folded across his chest Lucius walked alongside Elie back to their apartment building.

“You’re awfully quiet today.” Elena noted.

“Hmm?” Lucius looked down at her.

Elena puffed through her scarf. “You haven’t spoken to me since ‘hi’ this morning. You’re normally asking a bunch of dumb questions, or at least complaining about something.”

Lucius frowned. “Yeah, I guess… I’ve just been thinking.”

“Nice job.” Elie congratulated flatly. “What about?”

Lucius found himself chewing on his lip. It rather hurt. He should probably stop that. “It’s nothing. Leo’s just being weird.”

They walked another block in quiet.

“Weird about…?” Elena finally prodded.

Lucius shrugged. “He just looked like complete shit this morning. He said he was just tired but…”

Elie raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been clammed up all day because Leo was tired?”

“What?” Lucius huffed. “I just…” he shook his head. “I guess that kind of thing is normal here. I just… haven’t really seen Leo look anything short of perfect before.”

Elie snorted.

“Hey!” Lucius complained. “I just… oh, forget it.”

He folded his arms tighter against his chest, tossing his bangs from his eyes with an annoyed jerk of his head.

Another block went by without conversation.

“Sorry.” Elie murmured. “Sometimes you’re just so…”

Lucius cast her a glance from the corner of his eye, seeing that her apology was genuine despite that she still smiled a little. “It’s… it’s okay.” He decided.

They arrived at their building and trekked up to their floor. Elena gave a little goodbye and received an absent-minded wave before she entered her apartment.

Lucius walked down to his door and dug the key from his jeans pocket, entering and dumping his backpack to the side before raiding the kitchen.

Through the doorway he saw Leo in his chair at the table, his head buried in one arm on the tabletop as his other arm hung loosely about his middle.

Forgetting about food for the moment, Lucius entered the room that was their dining room and living room mashed into one, placing his palms on the table and leaning across to peer at Leo’s face behind his limp arm.

Leo looked no better than he had that morning; if anything, he looked paler, the grey smudged about his eyes more pronounced, his slightly parted lips dry and stiff.

The worry that had only just started to fade snapped back, and Lucius poked the top of Leo’s head testingly.

“Uh… Leo? Are you okay?”

Leo cracked one eye open, a small, high-pitched sound coming out of his mouth that made Lucius jump.

Slowly Leo licked his lips, prying his other eye open, but not opening either more than the original squint. “Lucy… what are… you doing home… already?”

“School let out twenty minutes ago.” Lucius said. “Shit, Leo, what… what happened to you?”

Leo hummed, eyes fluttering back closed. “Ju...just… tired.”

“Yeah, you said that this morning.” Lucius said. “I’m starting to think - Leo? Leo, look at me!”

Leo hummed again, not opening his eyes. His right arm weakly curled around his middle, that sound once more escaping his parted lips.

Lucius had no clue what to do. He stared at his friend, feeling helpless as Leo wriggled slightly in his chair, obviously in pain, with nothing Lucius could do.

What the hell was wrong with the angel?

“Mrow.”

Lucius glanced to the cat. “I’ll feed you later, Lucca.” He fumbled with his words. “I… I need to get Elie.”

His feet carrying him more than he commanded them, Lucius found himself back outside his apartment and knocking on the Sullivan's door.

Elie’s brother answered.

“Lucio.” Kay frowned. “Are you okay? You look-”

“Are people supposed to look ten minutes from dead when they’re tired?”

Kay blinked. “What now?”

Lucius saw Elie on the couch through the door. “Kid, I know the whole tired thing is supposed to be normal but I really think something’s wrong!”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Kay asked.

“Leo.” Lucius said. “He keeps saying he’s just tired but I really don’t think tired is supposed to make that sound.”

Elie peered around her brother, now standing behind him. “Make what sound?”

“I don’t know!” Lucius tossed up his hands. “It’s like he’s crying or something! And he won’t open his eyes and-”

At the word  _ crying _ Kay pushed past Lucius and made his way for the Bakers’ apartment in quick strides.

Lucius and Elie exchanged looks, then unfroze and darted after him.

In the dining room/living room Kay rounded the table to crouch on Leo’s right. He had a soft hand on the angel’s shoulder, shaking him gently. “Leo? Leo, open your eyes.”

Leo made that sound again, that high-pitched pained sound that made Lucius jump and cringe at the same time. The angel squirmed a little, and he opened a single glassy blue eye halfway to look at Kay, though he didn’t really focus on any part of the man’s face.

“K...Kay?” He slurred, his voice scratchy.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Kay rubbed his shoulder soothingly. “What’s wrong?”

“Hmmm… m’ head… everything… ow.”

“I think he’s sick.” Elia stated.

“Obviously.” Kay shot her a look.

“S-sick?” Lucius stuttered. “No, that can’t be right! He’s not supposed to get sick!”

Another one of those pained sounds left Leo’s mouth, and the angel hugged his abdomen tighter with his weak arm.

Kay took note immediately. “Does your stomach hurt?”

“Mmmm… yeah.” Leo groaned quietly. “Hurts… a lot.”

Kay glanced to Elena. “Go grab the tylenol from our apartment.”

With a nod the teen trotted off, and Kay looked to Lucius next. “Which room is his?”

Lucius took a moment to respond, pointing to the bedroom door to the right of the room. “That one. Why do you-”

Before Lucius had time to be stunned, Kay had scooped Leo up bridal-style and disappeared through the door.

Lucius opened his mouth and closed it several times, no sound coming out.

“Hey, it’s alright.” Kay’s gentle murmuring carried through the open threshold. “Just rest, okay? I’m going to get you some water.”

Kay reappeared, passing Lucius into the kitchen, collecting a glass of cool tap water. He passed Lucius again as he returned to Leo’s bedroom.

Lucius just stared, still unable to speak, only jerking back to his senses when Elie jabbed him in the side on her way after her brother.

He went after her, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to where Kay sat on the edge of Leo’s bed, prompting the angel to sit up and swallow the medicine Elie had brought.

Elie dropped to sit on her heels beside him, hands resting on her knees as she watched her brother intently.

Leo took the pills and downed half the glass of water, and Kay helped him lie back down. His head hadn’t even touched the pillow before his eyes were closed again.


End file.
